› added 3 years ago

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TIL a researcher recorded more than 100 animal handlers and found it's pretty much universal -- regardless of the language spoken or the animal being handled -- that humans use short, repeated sounds to get an animal to go or speed up, and long, slow sounds to get an animal to stop or slow down.

wo6X6 TIL about Operation Paul Bunyan, where the US cut down a tree in the Korean DMZ as a response to the murder of two officers, deploying over 800 soldiers and air support without any shots fired. The operation left a 19-foot stump as a reminder of the incident.
XE0bE TIL Astronauts attach pieces of Velcro into their helmets to scratch their noses during space walks.
KOvAB TIL the "Spider-Man Lizard" or the Mwanza flat-headed rock agama is found in Tanzania, Rwanda, and Kenya. Only the male is so brightly colored: head, neck, and shoulders are bright red, while the body is dark shiny blue. Males preferably have around five breeding partners and are highly territorial.
8KNK TIL that on September 29, 2008 – the day that began the worst stock market crash since the great depression – the opening bell of the NYSE didn’t ring for the first and only time in history.
NOwe TIL NASA has a detailed set of written procedures for dealing with a suicidal or psychotic astronaut in space. The astronaut’s crewmates should bind his wrists and ankles with duct tape, tie him down with a bungee cord and inject him with tranquilizers if necessary.